


The Lost Diary

by crystallineflowers



Category: Aveyond
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 20:03:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17494412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystallineflowers/pseuds/crystallineflowers
Summary: Mel finds a dusty old diary while she's wandering the castle one day. Her curiosity gets the better of her, and she reads it, only to realize that the diary belonged to none other than Rhen Pendragon herself!





	The Lost Diary

**Author's Note:**

> This was for the Aveyond winter gift exchange! Chloe, you were my assignment, so I hope you like it!

Mel found herself wandering the old wings of the castle again.

She was restless. She still wasn’t quite used to living the royal life – even though she and Edward had been married for a few years. She still wore leggings underneath her dresses when she was able to get away with it.

Mel ducked into an old bedroom as she caught sight of one of the servants coming around the corner. She didn’t want to deal with people bowing to her and calling her Queen – she just wanted to be alone. As she looked around, she realized that if she had ever been in this room, it was a very long time ago.

Dusty light filtered in through the window, dirty from years of neglect. Though the light was dim, Mel could see the basic layout of the room. A large canopy bed sat along the far wall, the sheets perfectly made underneath the drapes. Across from the bed sat a vanity with a large circular mirror. A wardrobe sat in the corner, and a small bedside table sat between the bed and the window. Atop the table sat a dusty book.

Mel wandered over to it quietly, careful to not disturb the dust in the room. Dust particles billowed around her in the air, but the floor beneath her showed no change – her years as a thief ensured she left no trace of her entering.

She picked up the book, leaving a clear outline in the dust on the table. Throwing caution to the wind – after all, she was Queen, she could wander the castle as she damn well pleased – she brushed the dust off the top of the book, revealing the name written in black ink over the leather cover:

_Rhen ~~Darzon~~ Pendragon_

~~~~~~

_Well, I guess I better start somewhere._

_Uh. My name is Rhen Darzon. Well, I guess it’s technically Rhen Pendragon, but I grew up as Darzon, and I suppose that’s still my name. I’ll always be Rhen Darzon, deep down._

_I was a simple farm girl who grew up in Clearwater on the Western Isle. I loved my parents. I had the biggest crush on the baker’s son and I thought we were going to get married when I came of age._

_Turns out fate had other plans for me._

_I…_

_Wow, this is hard to write about. But Lars thinks it’s a good idea, so. I guess I should try._

_Oh, Lars is a good friend of mine. We had… a rather rough start, but now I trust him with my life, and I know he trusts me with his. And it’s paid off a few times already – he’s saved me, and I’ve saved him, even without thinking about it. I just did it._

_I think if you told me when I was a child that I would have laid down my life for a friend, I would have laughed in your face. The little girl Rhen was a coward._

_Oh, well. I actually have to go now. Another one of these stupid meetings. I guess I’ll try to write more later._

~~~~~~~

Mel clutched the book tighter in her hands. What had she found? Rhen Pendragon’s diary? A memoir? Either way, it was a treasure – Rhen’s story was full of mystery for everyone. No one really knew how she became queen, only that she was the child of prophecy. Lord Lars, too, was an enigma – a sorcerer from the Eastern Isle who moved to Thais to teach magic. No one knew the history between the two of them, or why they were so close – and Mel seemed to be holding the key to that mystery.

She found herself sinking to the floor, causing a puff of dust to rise from the carpet. She flipped to the next entry and read on, only feeling slightly guilty at reading the private thoughts of the great queen.

~~~~~~

_Hey. Been a while. I kinda forgot about this, but Lars asked if I had been writing, and I felt bad about saying no, so here I am._

_Um. So. Where to start?_

_I guess the beginning is the best place to start._

_I wrote earlier that fate had other plans for me. When I came of age, I wasn’t planning my wedding with Danny, the baker’s son. I wasn’t even living in Clearwater._

_I had no friends. My family probably thought me dead._

_When I turned 16, I was cold and basically alone in the frozen tundra of the Northern Isle. I had Lars with me, but at the time we could barely be called acquaintances. I couldn’t stand him, and he couldn’t stand me, and he especially couldn’t stand me getting any kind of “glory” without him._

_See, I had just recently found out that apparently I was some “child of prophecy” and I was destined to save the world. Crazy, right? I mean, I was just a farm girl, how could I possibly save the world?_

_Maybe I should start before all that._

_I had just turned 14 about a month before the spring equinox celebration in Clearwater. I helped my mom gather flowers for the celebration. The day before the equinox, I was playing in the field when I saw a strange rainbow butterfly. Curious, I approached it, but was suddenly engulfed in light._

_The butterfly had somehow transported me to a cold, wintry abyss. Wind howled around me, stealing the heat from my very bones. I looked around in a panic, and soon noticed a woman with fiery red hair lying on the ground. She called me over, and I pulled her back to a glowing spot on the ground. Once we stepped in, we were back in Clearwater._

_I called my pa immediately, and they seemed to know each other. So we took the woman in and helped nurse her back to health._

_She treated me strangely when we woke up the next day. Kept saying something about protecting me, and insisted that I wear her priestess ring. I just shrugged it off at the time…_

_Oh, I have to go again. I guess I’ll finish this later._

~~~~~~

Mel felt like she was holding her breath. She had never read about any of this – no one knew where Rhen had come from. She stood abruptly and left the room, clutching the book tightly to her chest, paying no mind to dust she was disturbing in her wake.

She hurried through the halls of the castle, hiding the book in the folds of her dress whenever she encountered someone in the hall. Once she was in the safety of her bedroom, she sank onto the bed, opening the book eagerly to continue reading.

~~~~~~

_This is where it gets ugly._

_The day of the equinox, my friend Peter invited me out to go mess with the sheep. It was something we enjoyed doing, our little bit of rebellion. Only… when I left the village to join him, I met a man in the caves. He said he was looking for Clearwater, so I pointed him in the right direction, but he noticed the ring on my finger._

_He said he’d reward me if I showed him the ring again, and I was naïve, and…_

_When I showed him, he grabbed me, threw me in a sack, and I thought I was never going to see home again._

_This…_

_This is probably the hardest to talk about. I haven’t even really talked to Lars about it much, and he’s my best friend. This next part consisted of the worst days of my life. I wanted to be dead. I wanted to disappear. And to this day, I have issues with certain things associated with it._

_That man… he sold me into slavery._

~~~~~~

Mel gasped.

The greatest queen in the history of Thais had been a slave? How could something like that have happened? How did she get free?

The door opened, and Mel looked up from her reading to see Edward enter the room. He looked a little surprised to see her there.

“Oh, hello, Mel. Whatcha doing?”

“Edward, come here! You’re not gonna believe what I found,” she called, patting the bed beside her. He approached with a curious look on his face.

Mel angled the book towards him, grinning. “I think I found Rhen Pendragon’s diary!”

Edward’s eyes widened, and he clambered onto the bed beside her, pulling at the book so he could see it better. “You… where did you find this?”

“Some dusty old bedroom,” she said. “Apparently, Rhen was a slave!”

“A what?!”

“Just read it!”

~~~~~~

_Yeah._

_I was a slave. For a while._

_They shipped me over to the Eastern Isle, where slaves were common, and I was sold to a noblewoman in Ghalarah. The only thing they allowed me to keep was a slave bracelet, and it was only because they couldn’t get it off after the man who took me put it on. I was given an old potato sack to wear, and that was it. No shoes, no jacket, nothing. They cut my hair short, to my chin, and threw me to the wolves._

_The woman who bought me was a demon. Not in, like, the literal sense of the word or anything. But even Lars admits she was horrible to me for no reason._

_Oh, yeah. So. Lars’ mother bought me. And we hated each other, Lars and I. He was also horrible to me. But I’d rather not get into that. He’s apologized and more than made up for it by now._

_I spent almost a year with them, but was freed when it was discovered I had magic. Turns out the bracelet was actually suppressing it, and when Lars broke it off, I could use it! So I was freed and sent to the school in Veldarah, where I learned to be a sword singer._

_Eventually I found the priestess ring again, and the moment I put it on, the priestess appeared in front of me! It was that day I found out that I was the “child of prophecy destined to save the world.”_

_I was not happy about that._

_Anyway. Let’s skip ahead. I graduated, became a licensed sword singer, and met the priestess in the castle with the empress. I was told that a great demon was trying to take over the world, and I was destined to stop it. I had to save the druids across all the isles, gather them at the sun temple in a place called Aveyond, and then slay the demon king._

_No big deal, right?_

_Well, Lars wasn’t very happy that the “slave girl” was getting all the glory, so he insisted on coming with me._

_And thus started my adventure with the man I hated who would become my best friend._

~~~~~~

“Wait, Queen Rhen was a slave owned by Lord Lars himself?!” Edward exclaimed. Mel hushed him and turned the page, eager to read more.

~~~~~~

_Sorry, it’s been a while._

_Anyway. Lars and I saved the world. And somewhere along the way, I stopped hating him, and he stopped hating me. I’m not really sure what happened._

_We braved the Wildwoods as people who could barely stand each other. We took down the hind, a great centaur who was turning men into stone. We met up with a summoner from the Southern Isle – Elini of Veldt. To this day, she is one of my closest friends._

_Now that I think about it, the people I traveled with are my only friends. It is actually rather lonely being queen._

_When we traveled to the Haunted Hills, we met a vampress in Ghed’are named Te’ijal. So strange for a vampire – she wanted to see the sun!_

_But we had other things to worry about, so we went to find the druid. Turns out that a demon had stolen his soul, so we had to go find THAT. Ghed’are’s catacombs are terrifying. I don’t think I can look at bats the same way ever again._

_Once we killed the demon and got his soul, he joined our party as we pushed further south to Land’s End. We climbed a mountain, fought some gryphons, and defeated another demon to claim the druid’s soul._

_Well, now we have two druids, and we somehow have to get them to the sun temple. But where the hell was that?_

_Turns out the sun temple was in a place called Aveyond, on the Northern Isle. We paid a ferryman to bring us up there, trudged our way through the snowy mountains, and wound up in a sunny, grassy realm._

_There were so many bees. I never want to see a bee again._

_We escorted the druids to the sun temple, far in the north of Aveyond, and met with Oracle herself. She was the one who told me what I was apparently destined to do._

_Talk about a burden to place on someone as young as I was. As I am. It hasn’t even been a year since I defeated Ahriman…_

~~~~~~

The entry stopped there. Mel was eager to keep reading, but Edward placed a hand on hers, stopping her from turning the page. She looked up in annoyance.

“What is it?”

“Mel, do… do you think we should keep reading this? I mean, this is sorta private, right?”

She huffed and glared at him. “She’s also dead, so I don’t think she cares much.” She held the book up to his face. “Imagine what we can find in here! Rhen’s past was a total mystery! No one knows how she came back to Thais or what she was doing before she was queen, and this has the answers!”

“Then shouldn’t we give it to a museum or library or something?”

Mel grinned. “Oh, I will. After I finish reading it.

~~~~~~

_I truly cannot stand the councilmen who were in charge of Thais before I got here. They never listen to what I have to say! I know I’m new at this, but at least give me a chance! Even Lars says that my ideas are sound, and that the men just aren’t listening to me because they’re old and stuck in their ways. Ugh._

_Te’ijal wrote today. She and Galahad are still living in Gedh’are, but he doesn’t seem too happy with the arrangement. I’m still not sure turning him into a vampire to free his soul was her best idea… I hope he forgives her one day._

_Anyway. I guess I shouldn’t just recount my story here. I… would really rather not think about the things I had to do. Sure, I saved the world, but… there were people I couldn’t save, and that haunts me. Lars often finds me in the night, wandering the castle because I can’t sleep._

_I wonder why he’s up so much, anyway. Maybe I ought to ask him._

_I wonder how Elini and John are doing. I think I’ll write to them soon. Maybe she’s got the itch to find another husband. I don’t know how she deals with having four of them – I can’t even imagine having one._

_Oh, yeah. That’s a big thing with the councilmen. They want me to get married, and I want nothing to do with it. I keep using the excuse that I won’t be as efficient at bargaining if I’m married – I can technically use marriage as a condition for treaties. I’d rather not, but if I absolutely have to, I guess I can do it._

_But the reality is that I don’t think I’m capable of love anymore. My love… my ability to love died when I killed Dameon._

~~~~~~

Mel gasped as she read the last line. She had heard of Dameon – Dameon the Good, the Sun druid who was led astray by Ahriman in his quest for power. The only stories that had been passed down were those of good deeds – of Dameon being a great healer, a kind man who offered his help to the lost princess when she was in need, and helped in the final battle against the demon king.

She had no idea Rhen was the one who killed him.

Mel turned to Edward, who looked equally shocked. She brought her attention back to the book and turned to the next page.

~~~~~~

_Another nightmare. I can’t get back to sleep._

_When will this end? Will Ahriman ever stop haunting me? Will I forever hear the whispers of the Sword of Shadows in my mind?_

_I spoke with Lars earlier. He found me on one of the balconies. I finally asked him why he was always up when I was – turns out it is for the same reasons. He, too, has trouble with the past. We talked a bit about what our dreams were about. Mine are so varied… my friends dying, Ahriman winning, myself giving in to his suggestions and joining his side to live forever with Dameon._

_Lars went quiet for a moment before admitting that all of his dreams were about me._

_All of them?_

_He said most of them were of our fights with the other demons – Indra, in particular, was a common occurrence. I nearly died during that fight. Dameon’s magic wasn’t working, the cassia leaf took too long… I don’t remember any of it, but when I came to, everyone was nearly in tears. Even Elini just hugged me tightly, not saying a word._

_But then he went red and said that some dreams were about other things, but he wouldn’t answer when I asked about them. I wonder why he got so embarrassed._

_Oh, well._

_I should try to sleep again. Maybe I should get a nightingale, like we brought for the queen of Veldt. I should ask her if it helped at all._

~~~~~~

The next entry was dated, about a year and a half after Rhen became queen. At a quick glance, Mel saw that all the entries following it were also dated.

“That’s gonna be super helpful for historians,” Edward mused.

~~~~~~

_The councilmen keep bringing up the idea of marriage to me. I finally told them that if they ask about me getting a husband again, I’ll kick them off the council. They got pretty quiet after that._

_Lars is on the council now. I put him there. I needed someone who actually trusted me, and who knew how the world of nobles worked. He wormed his way into their hearts very quickly, and seemed amused when I gave them the ultimatum._

_But their constant pestering had me thinking. I don’t think I’ll ever get married, even for politics. I’d only want to marry someone who truly understood me, who knew what I’d been through and how it changed me… And that leaves a very short list of people._

_A very short list._

_Like one person._

_And as close as we are as friends, there is absolutely no way I could marry Lars._

~~~~~~

“She sounds like you, Mel,” Edward laughed.

“What! What do you mean?”

He gave her a wry look, but she could see the affection in his eyes. “You were pretty adamant on not getting married for a long time. Especially to me.”

“But you’re different!” she sputtered. He laughed and leaned over to kiss her temple, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“I know, I know.”

~~~~~~

_Well, Lars made me aware of something… troubling today. Apparently, even though I told them to drop it, the council men are still talking about me getting a husband._

_They’re so focused on it that they have even started talking to other kingdoms in an effort to find someone for me to marry._

_I was so upset at this, it took Lars a solid hour to calm me down. I wound up going to the training grounds just to beat up some dummies, even though that wasn’t very satisfying._

_I didn’t know what to do. I was angry, I was hurt, I felt used._

_But… Lars came up with a crazy idea._

_You know how I said I could never marry Lars?_

_…_

_I think I’m going to marry Lars._

~~~~~~

“Wait, did they get married because it was _convenient_?” Mel asked, sounding offended.

“I mean, that’s not uncommon in royal families –“

“But I thought they loved each other!”

“Maybe they grew to love each other?”

Mel turned the page angrily.

~~~~~~

_I’ve been thinking about Lars’ suggestion. It makes sense, I suppose. We get along well. We’ve shared beds before. Marriages of convenience are not uncommon. And at least if I marry him, I won’t have to worry about the council men finding me some random man to marry._

_But… they’ll expect children, I’m sure. And I really don’t know if I can do that with him. I mean, Lars is my best friend! I don’t think I could do that…_

_Well, everything I do is for Thais. So I guess I could if I had to._

_I think I’m going to do it. I’m gonna marry Lars._

_Gods, that’s a weird thing to say._

~~~~~~

The next entry was dated a few days later. Mel read ahead eagerly, half mad and half interested in how this was going to turn out.

~~~~~~

_So, I told the council men of our plans to get married. They instantly approved! I didn’t think it would be easy to convince them to let me marry Lars, but I guess his social status as High Sorceror and his noble bloodline was enough for them. So the wedding planning is already underway._

_My tailor, Antony, was ecstatic when I told him. He can’t wait to make me a wedding dress. I just hope it’s something I’ll like. But I trust Antony. I like all the other dresses he’s made me._

_Lars and I talked about what we expected of each other out of this. It’s… weird to think about marrying my best friend, but I suppose it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Now that it’s real, I’m much more okay with it. I thought I would be more freaked out._

_We’ll of course have to share a room from now on. Nothing I’m not used to. This bed is too big for me, anyway. It’s part of why I don’t sleep well._

_We’ll do the normal kiss – I’ve kissed him before, too, when the cassia leaves weren’t working and I was desperate to get more medicine to him. So I guess this isn’t too different from that._

_We haven’t talked about children, but I suppose that will come up at some point later. I’d rather not think about that yet._

~~~~~~

Mel remembered reading about the marriage of Rhen Pendragon and Lars Tenobor – it was a huge affair. The entire city was celebrating. There were feasts for a week straight, and noble families from other kingdoms came to visit to see it happen. She was only just now realizing that this was probably because Rhen knew them all personally.

If she remembered correctly, they even had real live fairies there.

~~~~~~

_The wedding is tomorrow. I’m… nervous. Why am I nervous? Lars is my best friend. It’s not gonna be weird._

_So why is my stomach turning?_

_~O~_

_It’s been… about a week since the wedding._

_I…_

_I don’t know how to feel._

_It’s nice to not be alone anymore. In my bed, I mean. Lars just made himself at home in my room, like he belonged here the whole time, and I’m strangely okay with that. I guess I didn’t realize how much I missed spending time with him. Now that we’re married, we’re left alone much more. Maybe they’re just trying to give us space._

_Kissing him was… different. It was nothing like those times with the cassia leaves. This was something new. My stomach felt funny when it happened, and I felt strangely embarrassed. I wonder why._

_Lars seemed surprised that I’ve been writing so much. He genuinely didn’t think that I would have written more, but he’s reading something while I write here, so now he knows that I did actually take his advice. I think it has helped a bit? But I’m not sure._

_I guess a big part of my sleeping problem was the fact that I was alone. I’ve slept much better these past few days than I have in months._

~~~~~~

Mel sped through a few entries, eager to read more about their relationship rather than council problems. Edward had long since fallen asleep next to her. He was snoring lightly, his arm thrown over her legs, his head pillowed in her lap.

She scanned through the entries until she found one that seemed promising.

~~~~~~

_So, I’m starting to feel different around Lars. I don’t know what it is, but being around him makes me happier. I feel lighter when he walks into a room, and I find myself craving his touch when we go to bed._

_Yeah, we wake up very close together most mornings. At this point I’ve just accepted it._

_But he does these sweet things for me. He brings me flowers sometimes. He finds things at the market that he thinks I’d like. He’s even crafted me things from magic._

_And lately he’s been kissing me on the temple. Just a little thing, like when he leaves to go teach, or when he sneaks up on me while I’m writing. It makes my stomach get all fluttery._

_I don’t want to put a name to it yet. But… it feels very similar to how I felt around Dameon. Slower, but still the same._

~~~~~~

Mel had to suppress a squeal. She thought it was adorable, reading about how Rhen was slowly falling for Lars. Suddenly, she was okay with the marriage of convenience.

She thought back to what Edward had said earlier, about how she and Rhen were similar. Mel thought of her own developing feelings for Edward, and how long it had taken her to realize she loved him.

Maybe he wasn’t too far off with that observation.

~~~~~~

_So, I told Lars about the fluttery feeling in my stomach, and all the other things._

_He laughed at me! Actually just laughed! He laughed so hard he nearly cried!_

_I was mad at first, but when he finished laughing he just hugged me close, stealing my breath away. His smile was so wide, he looked like the sun. I hadn’t seen him that happy in  a long time._

_And then he kissed me._

_And I kissed back._

_And he told me that what I was feeling was a crush – that I had somehow developed feelings for him, AFTER we got married._

_I suppose there are worse things._

~~~~~~

Mel read through the night, skimming over political talk and focusing instead on Rhen recounting her slowly falling in love with Lars. She wrote about having their first child together, and how Rhen was worried about the child having green hair like their father. She wrote about visits from her friends. She wrote about treaties, and more children, and protecting her queendom from demon threats to the east.

Mel read it all, until Edward woke up in the early morning, looking around in bleary confusion.

“Mel, did…” he yawned. “Did you stay up all night?”

His yawn triggered her own. “Yeah! I wanted to read about them falling in love.” She held the book up to him, grinning. “She did love him! They got married first, but she loved him!”

Edward smiled softly at her. “I’m glad.” He reached his hand up to brush gently against Mel’s cheek. “You should probably get some sleep, though.”

Mel leaned into his touch and sighed, the exhaustion finally hitting her. “Yeah, I guess so…”

Edward pulled the book gently from her hands, closing it and setting it aside. He pressed on Mel’s shoulder, pushing her slowly into the pillows, and pulled the blanket up over her. She yawned again, and settled in quickly.

Edward smiled at his sleepy wife and leaned down to kiss her before she fell asleep. “I’m going to bring this to a historian. Sleep well, love.”

Mel hummed, her eyes closed. She was falling asleep before Edward even left the room.

She dreamed of a purple-haired girl falling in love with a green-haired boy as they saved the world together.


End file.
